Director Greg Mottola explains why Paul's alien needed to be CGI. True Grit's breakout star still wants to be in The Hunger Games. Plus Johnny Depp talks Dark Shadows, tons of hints from the cast of True Blood, and more!

Spoilers from here on out!

Top image from The Adjustment Bureau.

Advertisement

The Dark Knight Rises

I can't believe we're still micro-analyzing every stray comment to work out if Anne Hathaway is playing Catwoman or just Selina Kyle in the movie, so let's just consider this latest interview with Hathaway — in which she explicitly talks about playing Catwoman — the end of the story. And, yes, I realize Hathaway could just be calling the character Catwoman, because that's what more people are familiar with, when actually it's only Selina we see in the movie, but no... time to end the madness. Catwoman is in the damn movie. [The AV Club]

The Dark Tower

Executive producer Brian Grazer really wants Javier Bardem for the main role of Roland, and apparently it's getting close to actually happening:

"'Dark Tower,' Javier Bardem, that's what we're hoping. We're in the process of trying to put that together. Will that make you happy?...He's locked in psychologically. He really wants to do it, so we're absolutely rooting for him to do it."

Paul

Director Greg Mottola explains why the titular alien had to be CGI:

"Someone pitched the idea of putting a kid in an alien suit with prosthetic hands and feet and then CGI a head on him. And I think that just would have sucked! It would have really sucked. It would have felt like, well, if the jokes are funny, it's okay. But on some level, I knew that Paul just couldn't be a person in a suit or an animatronic effect. It's hard to pull that off in this day and age with a character that's meant to be remotely human. And I wanted Paul to really fit into this ensemble and deliver a well-rounded, sustained comedic performance.

Dark Shadows

Johnny Depp offers this update on how he and director Tim Burton are approaching main character Barnabas Collins:

I'm very excited to film it. You know, it's something that Tim and I have talked about for a number of years because we were both fans. As kids, you know, you run home at three ‘o clock in the afternoon to go watch this gothic soap opera on television with vampires and everything. So our version, I guess, there's something that's very interesting coming from the screenplay and from the talks that Tim and I have had which is it retains that sort of bizarre distance that everyone has with one another in terms of the characters. Maybe Barnabus, in this version, is maybe a little bit more... maybe waxes a little more poetic now and again, you know? But it's definitely in keeping with the original series.

Sucker Punch

"It's kind of like 'The Wizard of Oz.' In that our characters are book-ended in an institution at the beginning and end of the film, but basically, the film takes place in the brothel and our characters play dual roles, so Blue Jones, who is the head orderly is the pimp who runs the brothel. Mrs. Gorsky, who is played by Carla Gugino, she's the psychiatrist in our real world, but then she is the choreographer and she is Madame Gorsky in the brothel."

Costar Vanessa Hudgins explains how she approached the difference between her real world character and her character in the insane fantasy world created by Emily Browning's Baby Doll:

I feel like in a sense it is Baby Doll's fantasy world, but I feel like I took the initiative to play on what my character is like in the Salem world. In the brothel world, it is just an extension. It is something more powerful, more confident. I feel like through this whole process is Baby Doll's fantasy and I feel like as soon as she changes it into the brothel we're all an extension of her, of what she is, and what she stands for. I mean, I personally played it though as a real character with each thing. It is a different world but it is the same person. So it's just different approaches I feel.

The Adjustment Bureau

Director George Nolfi describes the challenges of pulling off the movie's science fiction elements on a limited budget:

The main challenge was working with a limited budget. This isn't a very big budgeted movie, even though it looks it. I was thinking like a writer, so I didn't really realize this, but the concept of the "doors" [which transport characters from one place to another] means that every time I have anything to do with them, I have to have two locations. They have to be wildly disparate places. There are about 20-25 doors in the movie. That's forty locations right there. So we ended up with 85 or 90 locations, and we started out with 65 days. We ended up saving money, so that gave us a little more time, but you do the math. We had to move the crew 20 plus times, in that kind of traffic. It just means you have less time. It means your twelve hour day suddenly becomes eight hours because you had four hours to pack, move the crew through traffic, and set up again.

Limitless

Here's a fake PSA against the movie's mind-expanding drug NZT, along with an older fake commercial for the drug with star Bradley Cooper.

Fringe

The next episode "Stowaway" will reportedly feature two unusual doppelgangers. Seth Gabel's over there character Lincoln will return, but this time it's his counterpart from the regular Fringe universe. Meanwhile, William Bell will return, but Leonard Nimoy isn't back just yet - Olivia will be channeling his persona, which is why Anna Torv wears a white lab coat throughout the episode. [Fringe Spoilers]

Here's another alternate universe article from the Fox website, which details the recent troubles of the long-defunct Tucker Car Corporation:

Tucker Auto - The company claims to have fixed past problems.
Tucker Auto announces a new line of electric-fusion passenger cars. The company claims to have fixed past problems with catastrophic engine meltdowns, which led to high-profile lawsuits during 2006 and 2007. A company spokesman says the new vehicles demonstrate the firm's ongoing commitment to green innovation.

Torchwood: Miracle Day

The mini-series is reportedly adding a couple awesomely 80s guest stars. Ghostbusters costar Ernie Hudson is reportedly on board for an episode, while The Outsiders star C. Thomas Howell has confirmed that he is filming an episode. [Doctor Who News Page]

True Blood

Sam Trammell describes what's ahead in season four:

"What's great about this year is that we explore the shape-shifter community a little bit more, so there's going to be a lot of cool mythological stuff that we talk about, shape-shifter rules and what shape-shifters can do and who they are. Sam's [also] got a new love interest that's going to happen this year for him. I don't have really good luck with the ladies, they usually die — so hopefully she'll survive."

And here's some thoughts from Tara actress Rutina Wesley:

"You're going to find out where Tara goes, and there's going to be some happiness for her. It won't last for long, this is True Blood. It's a new Tara, and I think the fans are going to like it. She's not duct-taped, she's not tied up, she's got this personal strength and I think it's really awesome to see her. Sookie (Anna Paquin) and I will have some stuff this season-she's my best friend, so we're always going to have little moments. And we're going to get back to how I felt about Sam Merlotte, finding out that he was a shape shifter, so we are going to have a little moment about that. And I think Lafayette's (Nelsan Ellis) the only one that knows where I am, and he gives me some great advice."

Finally, some thoughts from Deborah Ann Woll on the relationships Jessica has with Hoyt and Bill:

"[Jessica and Hoyt] ended in a very positive place but obviously that won't last for long. We definitely pick up with a bit more trouble happening. Bon Temps is a scary place! The first two episodes are very interesting-Jim [Parrack] and I had some really fun stuff to play with like right off the bat. But maybe the first episode is my favorite as of now, just because it is the most varied...I think [Jessica and Bill] definitely also in a healing stage where he's finally accepting that he has a progeny, that he has a daughter vampire, and he needs to give me tools to actually survive. So he's definitely more cooperative and participatory in my growing up."